Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
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Day 6 – 8 Lijiang and Tiger Leaping Gorge
We arrived late in Lijiang and our host at the hostel stayed up to help us find the hostel and get checked in, she was so nice and welcoming and spoke to the taxi drivers for us to give directions to the hostel (which was quite hard to find as it wasn’t directly on a road.
It was pretty central though which meant we could easily get a bus to Tiger Leaping Gorge the following morning, the bus left at 7am so it was a late night and an early start, we hoped on the bus on the way there that the hike wouldn’t be so bad.. It was a real tough one.
We started the walk in Qiatou from what looked like a lay-by, the beginning of the walk was up a road and then the rest was walking path up the gorge. Because of the high altitude every step we took felt 10 times harder and I reckon we stopped about every minute (we got over-taken by other hikers a lot, we never overtook anyone!).
We had been given a ‘map’ which was a drawing essentially of landmarks along the walk and the times that it would take to get there. The first section was supposed to take 1.5 hours according to this ‘map’, it took us 3 hours.
Once at the highest point of the hike it was so worth the pain for the views which were amazing. It took us about 7 hours in total from the start to the guest house where we stayed the night (called Half Way Guest House – not half way, more like 3/4 of the way through the walk). We were certainly feeling proud of ourselves once we got there and enjoyed a few beers and chatted to other hikers who had passed us earlier in the day.
The next day we finished the hike which took about 2 hours (maybe longer having been held up by the goats and horses on the track), and was thankfully all downhill. Once we finished the hike we booked a bus back to Lijiang at a guest house called Tina’s and then walked down to the bottom of the walk which was another 2.5 hours down and up. We had had good walking weather the day before, dry but cloudy, today was sunny which made this hike particularly tough.
At the very bottom of the gorge, it is possible to cross a little wooden bridge to the Tiger Leaping Rock, Max did this. The Rapids around it were insane, I was to much of a wimp to do this.
Once back at Tina’s (very hot and sweaty) we had noodles, I had egg noodles which were my favourite that we have had so far in China.
We returned to Lijiang mid afternoon, but didn’t get back to the hostel until about 8pm after waiting ages for a bus and then getting off at the wrong stop (due to map issues!)
That night the hostel host cooked us dinner which was so nice (it was noodles with vegetables and minced meat we this sugary cake thing on top which was actually so tasty although no idea what it is) . We sat outside and had some drinks before heading out on to the high street right near the hostel which was buzzing with people and there was lots of bars and restaurants with live music.
We tried a music bar, it was fun but so loud that we couldn’t even speak to one an other and it was very expensive, so we left after one drink.
The following day we explored Lijiang ancient town which is a new old town (built recently to look new), it is very popular with Chinese tourists, we spent a relaxing and enjoyable afternoon wondering around in the blistering sunshine!
#lijiang #tiger #leaping #gorge #china #trekking #backpacker #travelling #ktv #music #noodles #halfway #hostel
Day 5 Kunming
We only had less than 24 hours in Kunming but really enjoyed the city, it is super modern, clean and fashionable. I would have loved to have done some shopping there if we’d have had some more time.
A guy that worked in the hostel very kindly added us on We Chat and sent us instructions of how to get everywhere. Turns out that We Chat has a very handy translate function meaning that we can be sent messages in Chinese and translate and vice versa.
We walked around the city centre and had a drink in a trendy bar filled with post-It notes all over the wall. We had a Carlsberg, the first beer over 2.5% we have had (or even seen) in China.
#china #backpacker #kunming #plane #wechat #city #travelling #travelers
Day 1 – 4 Guangzhou, Guilin and Longji Rice Terraces
Having arrived in Guangzhou after a night flight we were pretty sleepy, but were really pleased to meet James and Emma at the airport who took us for an amazing dim sum breakfast. Apparently a ‘posh’ breakfast for Guangzhou citizens, we tried intestine, stomach, parsnip cake and chicken feet (although I only took the tiniest bite of the chicken feet as I was put off by the bone!).
James then took us to the train station which was a bit of an ordeal, we arrived over an hour early to collect the tickets and get on the train, which we ended up running for in the end. The train station was more like an airport with the ticket checks and bag scans than any train station that we have ever been to, the security in China is certainly efficient.
We had a second class seat on the train which we had been told to avoid but we were actually quite impressed with the space and it was comfy enough for the 3 hour journey. The scenery between Guangzhou and Guilin were amazing, so many trees and hills.
Later in Guilin we headed along the street next to our hotel for dinner, we ended up in a canteen type restaurant where we pointed at foods over the counter and hoped for the best really, there was beer which made the experience easier. Returning back from the restaurant we saw a skinned animal hanging in a restaurant, the head of the animal had been tossed in to the pavement (I was glad to see this after I had eaten).
Our first full day in Guilin, we visited Seven Star Park where we spent a couple of hours walking round and climbing the hill to their viewing platform which showed the scenery around the city, although was a bit cloudy so could not see as well as we would have liked!
The remainder of the day we walked around the lakes (which are a popular tourist attraction) and the city centre, and went in about 10 different tour agents to see if we could book a trip to Longji Rice Terraces. I know that I shouldn’t expect them to speak English but there wasn’t even any literature that we could look at making it impossible to book.
On day 3, we woke up early (after being awake most of night due to the longest and loudest thunderstorm that I have ever experienced) to head to Yangshou which is about 200km south of Guilin along the Li River. We took a public bus to what we thought would be the south bus station (where we could connect to Yangshou) but the bus driver told us to get out of the bus at the train station instead saying that it was the right place. The rain was torrential as we got off the bus so we were soaked through by the time we found a shop to stand in.
As we were at the train station, we decided to see if we could get to Yangshou by train instead, getting to the ticket office involved wading through the flooded path outside the station (about 3 inches of water) we found out that we could get a train but not until 16:30, meaning that we would not get to spend a lot of time in Yangshou. So we went back outside across the flooded pathway to see if we could get a taxi to south bus station where we had intended to begin with, they translated on an app that the roads were too flooded to get there.
We deliberated as to what to do, and eventually decided to stay in Guilin, meaning that in total we had spent 3 hours, travelling 2 miles, got all of our clothes soaking wet and endured the pain of carrying our backpacks round for nothing, experiences.
We checked into the closest hotel to the railway station, showered and were able to do our laundry, it felt good.
Later that day we witnessed a baby who had fallen through some window grates on the sixth floor of a building right opposite our hotel. It was terrifying, but luckily someone was holding them whilst the whole street watched and filmed. The fire bridge came shortly and managed to pull the baby back through.
The day also enabled us to book a trip to Longji rice terraces which we really wanted to do, we booked online in the end after trying more tour agents in person.
Longji rice terraces the following day were amazing, we were actually so lucky as when we got up to the top of the terraces (by cable car) it was really cloudy and we couldn’t see a thing but the cloud broke to give us a view for a short moment.
The tour also took us to a local minority village (called Yao people) the tradition in their village is that the women only cut their hair once in their life at age 18.
#China #Guilin #Guanzhou #Longji #rice #terraces #train #plane #dimsum #yao #backpacker #travelling #li #river #flood
A bit about us
Hi! We are Max and Charlotte, a couple of University workers who have left our jobs for a few months to backpack around Asia.
We want to share our journey on this blog to inform other travellers of our experiences, receive advice from fellow travellers who have already done it and of course to keep our family and friends well informed of our time!
In this blog we plan to cover the sights, food, accommodation and transport that we encounter during our time in Asia as well as anything else that is exciting or relevant along the way.
Anyone who has done a trip like this before then we would love to connect with you or if you are planning a trip like this too then get in touch!
We hope that you enjoy reading our blog.
#asia #travel #backpacking
Charlotte and Max’s travels 